


Even Still

by starrylitme



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Awkward Crush, Banter, Budding Love, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Friendship, Gen, Haircuts, Living Together, Magic, Male-Female Friendship, Nightmares, Post-Canon, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-23 03:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12497672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrylitme/pseuds/starrylitme
Summary: A haircut, a nightmare, breakfast, and another day.(Slice-of-life Post-NDRV3 AU with some Harumeno flavor.)





	Even Still

**Author's Note:**

> Also gonna cross-post on tumblr for prosperity.
> 
> This is another commissioned work! Yeah!!! The request was for post-game simple, sweet, domestic, and I had a few ideas so I worked them together. Honestly I rather like Himiko's relationship with Maki in the game with how she teases her. It's very cute. Himiko is really cute.
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy~!

She had decided to cut her hair that morning. And, unsurprisingly, Yumeno had overreacted when she walked in.

“A- _Ahhhhh_! W-What are you _doing_ , Harumaki?!”

“Quiet.” She once again slices her knife through her hair, letting several raven strands flutter to the floor. “I thought you were meditating, Yumeno.”

“I-I did meditate!” Yumeno fiddles nervously with her fingers. “My mana’s been...fully restored so, um... I decided to check on Harumaki and you’re...using your knife for _that_?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked. “I am most familiar with it.”

“...You’re supposed to be using scissors...” Yumeno really seemed bothered, pinching at her fringe. “I know we have them. Shuuichi uses them.”

Maki hummed noncommittedly, grabbed another handful of her hair, and sliced.

And Yumeno squealed.

“ _HEEEEY_! Your ends are all uneven, Harumaki! Y-You don’t have any experience cutting your hair at all, do you?!”

“So what if I don’t?” she snapped, flicking more strands from her hand. “Mind your own business.”

“Nooooooo!!” Yumeno stomped her foot, over and over again. “No, no, _nooooo_!!!”

Maki’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Do you want to _die_?”

Yumeno’s eyes were shut tight so that she didn’t see Maki’s glare, and she shouted louder so that she couldn’t hear the just as dangerous lowering in Maki’s tone.

“ _NOOOOOOOO_!!!”

Annoyingly, Maki didn’t have any other options.

_...urgh._

* * *

“Ehehe, with my magic, I’ll make Harumaki’s hair all nice and tidy just like mine...” Yumeno giggled as she adjusted her cloak around Maki’s shoulders as a makeshift barber cape. Maki only rolled her eyes.

“Just get it over with.”

“Like this, our hair will be matching, Harumaki,” Yumeno hummed, combing through Maki’s hair. “That’s right, that’s right... Everyone knows spring rolls are best in warm bunches...”

Maki flustered a little and huffed.

“Just get it over with.”

“Okay!”

And so, she started.

“Alakazam!” Yumeno exclaimed as she snipped at Maki’s ends. “Abracadabra!”

Maki wrinkled her nose and remained stoically silent.

“Whoosh, whoosh!”

She continued to say nothing.

“Snip, snip!”

It’s not as though there were anything _to_ say.

“Hocus pocus!”

Around the time Yumeno finished, Saihara had returned.

“Ah, I’m back, sorry for the...”

“BEHOLD!!!” Yumeno exclaimed loudly, flapping her cloak to add extra flair and wrenching it away. Maki, unruffled, merely stood and smoothed out the wrinkles of skirt. She gave Saihara an unimpressed look as Yumeno brandished her with pride. “Ta _dah_! I have transformed Harumaki completely!”

“It was just my hair, Yumeno,” she said, irritated.

“But it looks great!” Saihara exclaimed and then went and fetched a mirror to show her. “See, Harukawa-san? Yumeno-san did an incredible job.”

“Of course I did! It was magic!” Yumeno huffed, hands on her tiny hips. “Now pet me, Shuuichi!”

“Haha, alright, alright...”

Maki took the mirror, staring at herself. Cold red eyes blinked back, a cold, pale face kept its twisting, deep frown... And her once long black hair was now short and a little curly at its ends, carefully layered with a slight wave. Slowly, Maki smoothed it down, lips parting just a bit.

When she lowered the mirror, Yumeno was still preening under Saihara’s head pats. Those small, thin fingers were clinging to Saihara’s sleeve so that he wouldn’t stop until she was satisfied. Despite that, Saihara seemed as content as he was resigned to his fate. But, still, Maki could see the tiredness in his gaze as he turned to her.

Despite that tiredness, there was...an expectancy to it.

_...sometimes I can just see how he took after that idiot._

“It’s not bad,” she said. Yumeno perks up, eyes sparkling. “Thank you... Yumeno.”

Sometimes, she is still envious at how Yumeno can smile the brightest out of all of them.

Even so, that gracious, innocent smile and delighted giggle still managed to stir her heart.

* * *

Living with Yumeno and Saihara, unsurprisingly, continued to take some getting used to. But it’s not because of their living conditions, not really. Maki has memories of crowded orphanages so she doesn’t bat an eyelash at sharing a small house with two other people. But, providing for themselves and that tiny house was difficult.

So Saihara got a job first, and Maki soon followed. Yumeno had tried, but she got overwhelmed quickly.

She had been depressed about that for a while. It was to be expected all the same.

And she bounced back quickly.

Yumeno had only been getting better about that. Maki found that as enviable as she did admirable.

Not that she would ever let Yumeno know. For someone so small, she could get quite the swelled head.

“Harumaki,” Yumeno said. “If you have any questions, then feel free to ask me. I’m an expert on short hair.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“Okay.”

Even over stupid things like this.

...But at least Yumeno wasn’t bothered. She was a good sport, at least.

Maki found that enviable as well.

* * *

Tonight, Yumeno once again wakes up in a cold sweat and eyes full of tears. It isn’t long before her shivering body curls in on itself, and she whines.

“U-Uuu... Uu...”

It’s another one of those nights, and Maki wasn’t getting any sleep anyway. With how close the three of them sleep together, she doesn’t have any hope of simply ignoring Yumeno’s muffled crying.

She wasn’t going to anyway.

“Yumeno.”

“H...Harumaki...” Yumeno scrambles to cling to her, and soaks her blouse with tears. Maki, ever used to this, merely strokes her hair. Yumeno sobs softly, shoulders tensing, and breaths hitching. “Haru... _Makiiiiii_...”

“Shhh.”

Maki’s hushing is careful. Here, she cannot help but be careful. After all...she has more than enough “experience” with crying orphans. And that is, more or less, what they all are.

Especially in a world like this one.

“What did you remember?” Maki asked quietly.

“T-Tenko,” Yumeno snuffled. “S-She... She was smiling...and laughing... With Angie... I-I was...too... And then...they started choking on their own blood...”

“Shhh. Do not share more than what is necessary, Yumeno.”

Yumeno’s shaking worsened.

“U-Uuu...”

“Shhh. Shhhhhh.”

This scene was not an unfamiliar one. Maki still remembers, however coldly, the time Yumeno had first woken up, face awash with tears, cold sweat, and a running nose. She had tried, rather pitifully, to turn away when she noticed Maki watching her. When Maki approached her, touching her shoulder, she curled into a smaller ball. It wasn’t until she gently said her name that Yumeno threw herself into Maki’s stiff embrace. Said embrace had relaxed, of course, but it had still been...

Strange. Uncomfortable.

Even now, it was strange and uncomfortable. But perhaps that was because of Yumeno’s crying face and the frailty of the small body curled so closely with her own.

With time, Yumeno tires herself out on crying, but...not so much that she falls back asleep. She hasn’t done in a while.

“...Eye hurts...” Yumeno rubs at the eye in question. “Harumaki... Uu... Pet my hair, please.”

Maki does so, and she listens to Yumeno’s soft sigh, and the steady breathing of Saihara close by.

“...Shuuichi...” Yumeno squirms a bit. “He’s okay, right? I case a spell on him to give him good dreams...but I didn’t have enough mana for myself... That’s okay, though...because I have Harumaki...”

She’s grateful for the darkness at a time like this.

“Saihara is sleeping fine,” she said. “You didn’t wake him.”

Yumeno nodded a few times, lower lip jutting out.

“He seemed depressed the other day...”

Maki said nothing, but she knew why that was. It was her own fault. She had tied her hair back and someone stopped her, asking if they knew her from somewhere.

_“You really look like Harukawa Maki from the last season of Dangan—”_

Saihara had thought quickly, calling her a different name and dragged her away. But not before apologizing profusely. They were in a hurry, after all.

“...Do not concern yourself with that.”

Yumeno pouted. Still, she nodded. She knew better, after all.

“...does it have something to do with why you cut your hair?”

...or perhaps not.

“Do you want to die?”

“Wah!” Yumeno gave a squeak, and hid her face in Maki’s chest. “Scary! D-Don’t make me cast up a magic shield! I-I would...if I...had mana to spare... But I-I can muster some up if I focus hard enough...”

_That other idiot rubbed off on you._

Maki petted her hair and said nothing.

Yumeno slowly unburied her face, and reached up, touching the ends of Maki’s hair. Almost as though she were ascertaining its presence.

“...Harumaki,” Yumeno said. “Um... Thank you.”

Maki blinked once.

“It is nothing,” she replied, sighing.

Yumeno nodded in return. She didn’t say anything else.

For a moment, neither did Maki. Silence dragged until Maki’s impatient brow furrowed.

“Are you going back to sleep or not, Yumeno? You should.”

Yumeno grumbled.

“Can’t I enjoy being wrapped up in a warm spring roll for a bit longer?”

“...I would rather you sleep, Yumeno.”

Yumeno was quiet for a bit. Maki could tell from her breathing that she still wasn’t sleeping.

“...Harumaki...” Yumeno buried her face again. “For being such a toasty spring roll, you’re cold.”

_I’ve still much to learn._

“Sleep, Yumeno. Please.”

“Aah, the magic word.” Yumeno yawned. “Okay, then... Mm, mm...”

She drifted to sleep soon after that. But for a little longer, Maki stroked her hair as she stared blankly at nothing in particular. Her heartbeat against Yumeno’s cheek was a steady one.

* * *

“Good morning!!! Rise and shine!!”

“Says the one up last,” Maki said coolly as she buttered a piece of toast. Saihara just chuckled.

“It’s good you’re up with so much energy again, Yumeno-san.”

“My mana has been fully restored!” Yumeno said, puffing out her chest with hands on her hips. All with twinkling eyes and a stern brow. “That nap was most magically efficient. Definitely...!”

“It’ll be better when you eat, Yumeno-san.” Saihara waved her over. “Harukawa-san already prepared a plate for you.”

“Yay!” Yumeno plopped down, sending the usual prayer before digging in. “Mm, mm.”

_...Chabashira said Yumeno looked like a small animal when she eats._

“Mm, mm. Mm, mm.”

_...she was not wrong._

“Mm, mm.”

Maki buried those thoughts quickly.

“Mm, mm... Harumakiiii,” Yumeno spoke with her mouthful. Not the most attractive, but Maki, in thinking of a bunch of messy-faced orphans with cheeks just as full of food, was unaffected. “Thank youuuuu f...fer the meal.”

“It is nothing,” she said, eyes falling shut as she took a sip of her juice.

“We do appreciate it a lot, Harukawa-san,” Saihara added a bit uselessly. But, that was the kind of person he was. A sidekick to his core.

“...It is nothing.”

_But hopefully Yumeno does not have him help her perform any ridiculous magic tricks. Especially when we’re still keeping a low profile._

After they’re done eating, Saihara washes the dishes. Yumeno fiddles with the remote, hesitating again on whether or not she should turn the television on. Maki said nothing.

She said nothing even when Yumeno plopped onto her lap with a sigh.

“I can tell they won’t have anything on,” she said. “And I’m not in the mood to watch anything anyway.”

It goes without saying that such was usually the case with all of them. Saihara would watch the news station, but it certainly wasn’t because he enjoyed it.

Saihara was drying the dishes quietly. When he put them away, there was a bit of clattering.

“Mm...” Yumeno squirmed a bit. “You two have the day off, right? I can do...a magic show if you want. Like a small one. I’m sure I can.”

“Ah, actually, I’m taking a night shift, Yumeno-san,” Saihara said. Maki could hear the rueful smile in his tone. “I’m sorry. Maybe later?”

“Oh...” Yumeno hummed, slumping only a little. “I see...”

“...sorry...”

“It can’t be helped,” Maki said.

“...yeah, don’t worry about it, Shuuichi...”

They both could tell she was disappointed. Maki felt Saihara’s glance at them, and then, she had to sigh.

“But...if you want, I don’t mind seeing some magic.”

Yumeno blinked up at her.

“The spell you did earlier to change my appearance was impressive,” she said, playing with her hair. It was irksome, fiddling with shorter strands than she was used to. But she’d manage. And... They really weren’t half-bad. “So... I don’t mind seeing more.”

Yumeno’s eyes were sparkling.

“Ooh! It was! Now Harumaki is prettier...just like me.” She blushed, flattered. “Aah...”

Maki heard Saihara make an odd noise.

“I-I’ll make! So many flowers bloom from behind Harumaki’s ears!” Yumeno exclaimed. “Enough to make flower crowns for both of us!”

“...”

_...I’m curious._

Even though Saihara _did_ laugh at that, she was definitely curious.

It was to be another day Yumeno managed to impress her.


End file.
